Accommodation is a process by which the eye adjusts its focal distance to maintain focus on objects of varying distance. Accommodation is a reflex action, but can be consciously manipulated. Accommodation is controlled by contractions of the ciliary muscle. The ciliary muscle encircles the eye's elastic lens and applies a force on the elastic lens during muscle contractions that change the focal point of the elastic lens.
As an individual ages, the effectiveness of the ciliary muscle degrades. Presbyopia is a progressive age-related loss of accommodative or focusing strength of the eye, which results in increased blur at near distances. This loss of accommodative strength with age has been well studied and is relatively consistent and predictable. Presbyopia affects nearly 1.7 billion people worldwide (110 million in the United States alone) and that number is expected to rise as the world's population ages. Techniques and devices that can help individuals offset the effects of Presbyopia are increasingly in demand.
Smart ophthalmic devices can aid a user with accommodation to counter the age-related effects of presbyopia. However, such smart ophthalmic devices have optical components that should be tested to validate their correct manufacture, assembly, and operation. Conventional techniques for testing the optics of an ophthalmic device use external optical equipment, such as optical coherence tomography equipment or custom camera solutions, to measure the optics. This external test equipment is both costly and overly time consuming for large scale manufacture.